Article 1. Scope of Regulation 1. According to the Constitution of Georgia this Law recognizes the property right of the object of intellectual property – the design. Regulates relations concerned with creation, registration, use, legal protection of the design and implementation of the deriving rights. 2. Application of this Law extends to the design if it is registered by Sakpatenti in the register of the industrial property (hereafter – the Registry) according to the rule established by the law. 3. Design, which is not registered and/or to which international registration does not apply is subject to protection under the Law on Copyright and Neighboring Rights.

Article 2. Definition of the Terms 1. Terms used in the law have following meanings: a) Sakpatenti – legal entity of public law defined by the Georgian Patent law – the National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia; b) International Bureau – international bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization; c) Paris Convention – Paris Convention for Protection of Industrial Property of March 20, 1883 (revised at Stockholm in July 14, 1967, amended on September 28, 1979); d) Designer – a natural person who created a design as a result of intellectual creative work. e) Co-designer - a natural person who created a design as a result of intellectual creative work in cooperation with other natural person (s). f) Design holder– a person who has an exclusive right over the design and who is entered as a design holder in the register by Sakpatenti; g) Certificate – a document issued according to this Law in the name of the design holder, which conforms the fact of registration of the design for the moment of its issuance; h) Applicant – a natural or legal person who requests registration of the design; i) Application – unity of the documents necessary for the design registration according to this Law; j) Hague Agreement – Hague Act of November 28, 1960 and/or Geneva Act of July 2, 1999 of the Hague Agreement on International Registration of the Design; k) International Design – a design registered by the International Bureau with the requirement of application of the rights on the Georgian territory according to the Hague Agreement;

l) International Classification of Designs – international classification established by the Locarno Agreement on International Classification of Designs signed on October 8, 1968; m) Priority – a priority enjoyed by an application over the applications filed later; n) Convention Priority – priority established under Article 4 of the Paris Convention which can be applied by the applicant in the Paris Convention or other WTO member state; o) Exhibition Priority – priority established under Article 11 of the Paris Convention which can be applied by the applicant in the Paris Convention or other WTO member state; p) Chamber of Appeal – Chamber of Appeal established at Sakpatenti defined by the Patent law of Georgia.

Article 3. Design and its Protection Criteria1. A design is the appearance of the whole product or its part resulting from the, features of, in particular, lines, contours, colors, shape, texture and/or material of the product, and/or its decoration. 2. Product is any industrial or handicraft item, including inter alia parts, packaging, get-up, graphical symbols and typographical fonts, excluding computer programs intended to be assembled into a complex product. 3. Complex product means a product which is composed of more than one component and these components may be replaced by disassembling and re-assembling the product. 4. Legal protection shall be granted to a design if it is new and has individual character. 5. A design is novel if no identical design has been made available to the public before the date of filing an application or the date of priority. 6. In determination of the novelty of the design, a design filed in Sakpatenti or registered in International Bureau with the requirement of application of the rights on the Georgian territory shall be considered publicly available if it was published after filing application for the design for which novelty is being established, but has earlier priority. 7. Designs shall be deemed to be identical even if their features differ only by insignificant details. 8. A design is of individual character if the overall impression it produces on the informed user differs from the overall impression produced on the same user by any other design which has been made available to the public before the date of filing an application or the priority date. 9. In assessing individual character, the degree of freedom of designer in creation of the design shall be considered. 10. A design applied to or incorporated in a product which is a component part of a complex product shall be considered as new and having individual character if it is visible within the complex product in the course of its normal use while the visible parts meet the criteria of novelty and individual nature. 11. For the purposes of this Article "normal use” means use by the end user, except for the technical maintenance, repair works.

Article 4. Scope of Protection 1. Scope of legal protection of the design shall be determined by its appearance. 2. Scope of legal protection shall not extend on word or words interpolated in the design. 3. Scope of legal protection of the design shall include any design which does not produce on the informed user a different overall impression. 4. In determining the scope of legal protection of the design the degree of designer’s freedom shall be considered.

Article 5. Origination of the Exclusive Right on Design and the Term of its Validity1. Exclusive rights on design originate in case of registration in Sakpatenti from the date of filing application, also according to this Law through extension of the international registration, based on the Hague Convention. 2. A certificate is issued over the design registered in Sakpatenti. 3. Applicant is authorized to register a design in Sakpatenti for one or more periods of five years, but not more than for 25 from the date of filing application in Sakpatenti.

Article 6. Disclosure 1. A design shall be deemed to have been made available to the public, if it has been published, exhibited, used in trade or otherwise disclosed before the date of the application filing or the priority date. 2. A design shall not be deemed to have been disclosed to the public regardless of the referred in the first paragraph, if: a) the actions, referred in the first paragraph of this Article, in normal course of events could not have become known to the persons operating in the respective field in Georgia. b) information on design has been disclosed to the third person, under direct or indirect conditions of confidentiality.

3. The disclosure of a design to the public shall not be considered as the ground for refusal to register a design, if it has become available to the public within a time period of 12 months preceding the date of filing application or priority date: a) by way of disclosing information on design by the designer or his/her successor, or b) as a result of an abuse conducted by the third person in relation to the designer or his/her successor.

Article 7. Design dictated only by a Technical Function and Designs of interconnections 1. Protection does not extend to those elements of the design: a) which are solely dictated by their technical function; b) which should be necessarily presented in the design exactly in such form and dimensions that the product into which the design is incorporated, or for which it is applied, has ability to be mechanically connected to or placed in, around or on the opposite side of another product so that each product can perform its own function. 2. Sub-paragraph "b” of paragraph 1 of this Article does not extend to the design which serves the purpose of allowing multiple assembly or connection of mutually interchangeable products within a modular system.

Article 8. Relationship between the Co-designers Relationship between the co-designers is defined by the agreement concluded among them. In case of absence of the agreement each of them enjoys equal joint right.

Article 9. Right to Register a Design1. Right to file the application shall vest in the designer or her/his successor in title, except for the cases referred by this Article. 2. Right to file the application for the design developed jointly by several designers shall vest in all designers jointly as well as in each of them in case of consent of other designers, unless otherwise provided by the agreement among the designers. 3. Where a design is developed by an employee or the order receiver in the execution of his duties or implementation of the order, right to file the application for the design shall vest in the employer/order issuer, unless it is otherwise provided by the agreement. 4. Where development of a design is not related to the execution of the duties or implementation of the order, however the resources of the employer or the order issuer have been used, right to register a design shall be vested in the employer/order issuer. 5. In case envisaged by paragraph 4 of this Article preemptive rights to receive free of charge non-exclusive private license on such design and/or to purchase exclusive rights deriving from such design belong to the employer/order issuer, unless otherwise provided by the agreement. 6. If one and the same design is created independently by two or more persons, exclusive right to design belongs to the applicant whose application has an earlier priority. 7. If several applications concerning identical designs have been established to have the same priority, right to design registration belongs to the person(s) indicated in the agreement of the applicants. If parties fail to agree, dispute shall be resolved by the court.

Article 10. Grounds for Non-RegistrabilityThe design shall not be registered if: a) it does not comply with the requirements envisaged by first paragraph of Article 3 of this Law. b) it is identical to the earlier design, which is filed in Sakpatenti or registered in the International Bureau with the requirement to extend protection on the Georgian territory and it became disclosed prior to filing the application or the date of requiring priority; c) it is identical to the earlier design, which became available to the public after the application filing or the date of requiring priority, but is filed in Sakpatenti or registered in the International Bureau with the requirement to extend protection on the Georgian territory before the abovementioned date. d) the registration contradicts with the public order. e) wholly or by any consisting element coincides with the state herald, flag, money sign, full or abbreviated name of Georgia or its territorial entity or the foreign country and no consent of a competent body is available. f) wholly or by any composing element coincides with the herald, flag, full or abbreviated name of an international organization and this coincidence is evident to the expert and if no consent of this organization is available. g) design or its composing element displays an appellation of the place of product origin or geographic indication which has been granted protection on the Georgian territory based on the local registration, bilateral or international agreement.

Chapter II

Filing of the Application on the Design, Expertise and Registration

Article 11. Application 1. Application for design registration is filed in Sakpatenti by persons or through their representatives. 2. If the applicant is a designer’s successor in title, the application should be presented in Sakpatenti with the document verifying the succession within one month from the date of the application filing. 3. If the application was filed by a designer’s representative, the application should be appended with the document confirming representation. 4. Application shall contain: a) application on registration of the design (further the application); b) a presentation (view) of the design. 4. Application may contain description which has explanatory nature only. 5. Filing of the application in Sakpatenti takes place by way of actual submission of the application or by other way. 6. Application is considered to be filed in Sakpatenti from the moment of filing of the application and the view of design. 7. Form of the application and rule of filing is determined by the instruction on design registration (further the Instruction).

Article 12. Multiple Applications, Unification and Separation of the Application 1. Application may contain one or more designs if they belong to one class of the international classification of the Designs (multiple application). 2. Applicant is authorized: a) to unify design applications and file a unified application, if the included designs, belong to one class of international classification of the designs (unified application); b) divide application into separate applications (separated application). 3. Each design which is contained in multiple or unified application, is reviewed independently from others and constitute independent subjects of protection.

Article 13. Priority1. Applicant who would like to benefit from Convention Priority is obliged to file application on design in Sakpatenti within 6 months from filing first application on such design in Paris Convention or World Trade Organization (further WTO) member state. 2. Applicant who would like to benefit from Exhibition Priority is obliged to file application on design in Sakpatenti within six months from exhibiting it on the official or considered official exhibition held in Paris Convention or WTO member state. 3. Convention and Exhibition Priority do not extend each other’s term. 4. In cases envisaged by paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 12 of this Law for particular designs applicant has a right to require that priority, which it has. 5. A priority shall not be established for the application under the date of filing the application, by which an earlier priority has already been required.

Article 14. Examination of Design Application 1. Sakpatenti conducts examination on the application based on which it adopts decision on registration of the design. 2. Examination includes confirmation of the application filing date, conduct of the formal requirements and substantive examination, which shall be determined in detail by the Instruction.

Article 15. Establishing the Date of Filing Application1. Sakpatenti confirms the date of filing application within two weeks from submission of the application. 2. If the application is missing any application material envisaged by paragraph 5 of Article 11 of this Law, the applicant is obliged to present the referred material within one month from receiving notification. 3. If an applicant fulfils the requirement of paragraph 2 of this Article, the date of performance of the referred requirement shall be deemed as the date of the application filing. Otherwise, the application shall not be deemed filed.

Article 16. Examination of the Formal Requirements1. After confirmation of the date of the application filing Sakpatenti conducts examination of the formal requirements in the course of which the completeness and correctness of the application is examined. 2. Sakpatenti conducts examination of the formal requirements within one month from the day of confirming the date of the application filing. 3. Based on the examination of the formal requirements Sakpatenti adopts decision on the satisfaction of the formal requirements or on termination of the application process and informs the applicant.

Article 17. Substantive Examination 1. Within three months from the completion of the examination of the formal requirements Sakpatenti conducts substantive examination which envisages assessment of compliance of the design with the requirements of Article 10 of this Law and expertise for establishing novelty. 2. In the course of establishing novelty according to sub-paragraph "b” and "c” of Article 10 of this Law Sakpatenti takes into consideration designs filed in Sakpatenti or designs registered in International Bureau with the requirement to extend rights on the Georgian territory. 3. A design revealed as a result of the study indicated in paragraph 2 of this Article which complies with the condition contained in sub-paragraph "a” of paragraph 3 of Article 6 of this Law shall not be considered in the course of determining novelty. 4. Based on the substantive examination Sakpatenti adopts decision on design registration or on refusal to register design. 5. In case envisaged by paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 12 of this Law Sakpatenti may adopt a positive decision in relation to a part of the designs contained in the application.

Article 18. Extension and Restoration of the Procedural Timeframes1. In the course of application proceedings, the applicant has a right to require according to the prescribed rule: a) entry of the change and/or correction into the filed application material under the condition that referred action does not change the scope of the design protection. b) postponing publication of the design for no more than 30 months from the date of filing application or priority date. In case of multiple application the request for postponing may concern single as well as all contained designs; c) suspension of the application review; d) extension of the timeframe for submission of the reply to the requirement of Sakpatenti; e) recovery of the forfeited right due to the failure to meet deadlines. 2. Rule of implementation of the actions under paragraph 1 of this Article is determined by the Instruction.

Article 19. Publication of the Design1. In case of adopting a positive decision on design registration Sakpatenti publishes application data and design representation according to the prescribed rule in the official bulletin of the industrial property (further – Bulletin). 2. In case of replacement of the negative decision adopted by the examination on the design registration by the legally enforced positive decision of the court Sakpatenti publishes application data and design representation according to the prescribed rule in the bulletin. 3. In case of designer’s requirement Sakpatenti is obliged not to publish his/her name.

Article 20. Grounds of the Complaint in the Chamber of Appeal1. Applicant has a right to file an appeal in the Chamber of Appeal of Sakpatenti against Sakpatenti decision on completion of formal requirements or termination of the proceedings, also the decision of the substantive examination on refusal of design registration. 2. Interested party has a right to file an appeal in the Chamber of Appeal of Sakpatenti and require abolishment of decision on the substantive examination on design registration based on the ground that the requirements of Article 17 of this Law are violated; 3. Interested party has the right to file an appeal in the Chamber of Appeal and require abolishment of the decision on substantive examination, if: a) design does not meet requirements of the paragraphs 4-10 of Article 3 of this Law, except for the cases determined by paragraphs 2 of Article 10 of this Law; b) grounds envisaged by sub-paragraphs "f”, "g” and "h” of paragraph 1 of Article 28 of this Law exist. 4. In case of multiple and joint application the appeal may be concerning one or several covered designs. 5. An appeal may be filed in the Chamber of Appeal within 3 months from publication/ receipt of the corresponding decision. 6. The Chamber of Appeal reviews an appeal under the established rule within 3 months from filing an appeal. 7. Decision of the Chamber of Appeal may be appealed in the court within the time-frame prescribed by law.

Article 21. Design Registration1. If within the timeframe established by paragraph 5 of Article 20 the appeal is not filed with the Chamber of Appeal of Sakpatenti, or based on the appeal filed, the Chamber of Appeal adopts a decision on registration of the design, Sakpatenti registers the design in the Registry under the established rule. 2. Sakpatenti publishes data on design registration in the Bulletin and issues a certificate. 3. Form of the certificate and the data to be entered into the Registry are established by Sakpatenti.

4. Any person has right to familiarize with the Registry data.

Article 22. Compact Procedure of the Design Registration

1. For the compact procedure of the design registration the established rule under the paragraph II of this Article is used, unless it is otherwise provided. 2. Applicant can inquire to conduct the accelerated examination from the application filing date or within a month period. 3. All documents under the Article 11 of this Law should be added to the application inquiring to conduct the accelerated examination and the fee for the compact procedure of the design registration should be paid. 4. If an applicant wants to enjoy the priority under paragraphs 1-2 of Article 13 of this Law the priority claim document should be added to the application inquiring to conduct the accelerated examination and the fee established for the priority claim should be paid. 5. Within 3 days from the accelerated examination claim Sakpatenti checks if the application complies with the requirements of the paragraphs 2 and 4 of this Article. If the application lacks the documents under the requirements of the paragraphs 2 and 4 of this Article the applicant is to present these documents in 15 days period. Otherwise Sakpatenti takes the decision to refuse the conduction of the accelerated examination and the application is considered under the Chapter II of this Law. 6. If the application complies with the requirements of the paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article, Sakpatenti within 7 working days conducts the substantive examination under the Article 17 of this Law and in case of taking the positive decision registers the design in the Registry, published the data of the registered design in the bulletin and grants the certificate. 7. Under the established rules of the paragraph 20 of this Law any interested person has right to file an appeal at the Chamber of Appeal within 3 months from the publication of the design registration data in the bulletin. 8. If in Sakpatenti an application with the earlier priority will be filed and in the basis of the paragraphs "b” and "c” of the Article 10 of this Law expedite registered design can be refused, after the expedite registration of the design, Sakpatenti takes thedecision of canceling the expedite registration and publishes in the bulletin. 9. The appeal is filed under the established ruled of the paragraph 1 of the Article 20 of this Law on decision about canceling the expedite registration of the design under the paragraph 8 of this Article.

Article 23. Service Fee 1. The fee shall be paid for examination of the formal requirements of the application, substantive examination, design publication and registration, maintenance of the accelerated examination registration validity for every 5 years, appeal, entering of the changes into the Registry data and other activities. 2. Non-payment of the fee determined under the paragraph 1 of this Article by the specified date shall cause the termination of application proceedings. 3. The type and the amount of the fee shall be determined by the resolution of the Georgian Government. 4. Form and the rule of paying fees shall be determined by the Instruction.

Chapter III

International Design

Article 24. Effect of the International Design Registration on the Georgian Territory International design which has effect on the Georgian territory has the same legal force as the design registered in Georgia.

Article 25. International Design Examination1. For international design articles 10, 12, 17 19 and 20 are applied. 2. If design does not meet the registration requirements established by this Law, within the timeframe established by the Hague Agreement Sakpatenti shall adopt decision on rejection of the effect of the international design registration on the Georgian territory and notifies international bureau. 3. Norms established by the Hague Agreement apply to the term of the effect of international design registration and its extension.

Chapter IV

Exclusive Rights on Design

Article 26. Scope of the Exclusive Rights on Design 1. Design holder can exploit the design at his/her disposal. Design holder has the right to sell or otherwise alienate the design, issue the private license under the established rule. 2. Design registration assigns design holder exclusive rights to permit or prohibit from making, selling, advertising for sale, using, importing, exporting or putting it on the market of the product, into which the design is integrated or for which it is used, and storage of such product for these purposes. 3. If design is held by several persons: a) right can be assigned or the private license can be issued only with the consent of all holders, b) each holder has a right to use a registered design at his/her own production without consent of the other holders. 4. From the date of the publication of the design application until its registration the applicant is conditionally assigned the same rights which he/she would have been assigned with the registration. If registration is not implemented, the referred rights shall not be deemed originated. 5. Following shall not be deemed as violation of the exclusive rights deriving from design registration: a) further dissemination or other use of the product prepared by the design holder or under his/her permission into which the design is incorporated or with which it is used after putting it on the market; b) application of the design for personal use, when such action is not intended for commercial purposes; c) use of design for experimental purposes; d) copy of the design which is performed for the purposes of citation or study with the condition that such copying does not represent a bad faith action and does not damage normal use of the design and that the source is indicated. e) use of design on the sea vessel, aircraft or land transportation means of any country during its presence on the Georgian territory by incident or temporarily. In such case the design should be used only on such transportation means and not for entrepreneurial purposes; f) use of design in case of urgent necessity (force majeure) determined by the Georgian legislation.

Article 27. Right of Prior Use1. Right of prior use means a person’s right to use the design regardless of the effect of its registration, if such person has been using design in good faith or conducted preparatory work for its use prior to the date of filing design application in Sakpatenti or the priority date. 2. The right of prior use shall entitle the third person to exploit the design for the purposes for which its use had been effected, or for which preparations had been made, before the filing or priority date. 3. Private license may not be issued for the right of prior use. 4. The right of prior use can be transferred only with such enterprise, where the actions envisaged by paragraph 2 of this Article were implemented.

Article 28. Revocation of Design Registration 1. Design registration is revoked by Sakpatenti: a) based on the application of the design holder; b) in case of failure to pay the fee for extension of the term of the registration by the holder; c) based on the paragraph 22 of the Article 8 of this Law. 2. In case envisaged by sub-paragraph "b” of paragraph 1 of this Article registration of the design shall not be deemed revoked if the design holder pays the fee for registration term for the lapsed year and the following period within the period of 6 month from expiration of the term of the registration and if at the same time 25 years have not lapsed from the effect of the design registration. 3. Rights assigned by the design registration shall be considered terminated from the date of the entry of the record into the Registry on the revocation of the registration.

Article 29. Declaration of Invalidity of the Design 1. A registered design shall be declared invalid by the court in the following cases if : a) the design is represented only in the features corresponding to the paragraph 1 of Article 7 of this law; b) the design contradicts with the Article 10 of this law; c) the design does not comply with the requirements of paragraphs 4-11 of Article 3 of this law; d) the applicant or the design holder was not an authorized person according to the Articles 8 and 9 of this Law; e) the design constitutes an unauthorized use of a work protected under the Law of Georgia on Copyright and Neighboring Rights; f) the design is identical to the trademark with earlier priority registered in Georgia, except for the case, when design registration is requested by the holder of the exclusive right of this trademark. g) the design is identical to the mark recognized as widely known mark according to Articles 3 and 4 of the Law of Georgia on Trademark. k) the design wholly or any of its elements coincide with the emblem of the international or inter-governmental organization, its whole or abbreviated name, official controlling, guarantee, sampling seal, stamp, medal and medallion, historic name, herald, flag, symbol, money mark of Georgia or its territorial unit, or represents an imitation of any of the symbols envisaged by this sub-paragraph. l) registration of the design was implemented in bad faith. 2. In case envisaged by sub-paragraph "d" of first paragraph of this Article interested party may instead of claiming recognition of design registration invalid require assignment of rights deriving from the registration. 3. In case of multiple or combined design an appeal may concern one or more designs. 4. Invalidity of the design may be invoked: a) based on the sub-paragraphs "a", "b", "c" and "i" – by an interested person; b) based on the sub-paragraph "d"– only by a person who has a right on design according to the Article 8 and 9 of this Law; c) based on the sub-paragraph "e"– only by the copyright owner; d) based on the sub-paragraphs "f" and "g"– only by the owner of the trademark. e) based on sub-paragraph "k”– only those natural or legal persons interested in using symbols indicated in sub-paragraph "k”, or appropriate competent body. 5. As a consequence of declaring design registration invalid, rights granted by the registration shall be considered terminated from the date of origination of such rights unless the decision of the court which has entered into legal force indicates other date.

Article 30. Responsibility for Violation of Exclusive Rights on DesignMaking, offering, sale, putting on the market, import or usage of a product into which a design is incorporated, or for which it is used without the permission of the design holder, or storage of such product for such purposes, also deliberate disclosure of its essence (except by the designer him/herself) prior to publication of the data on the design by Sakpatenti, or appropriation of the designership shall entail responsibility under the rule established according to the Georgian legislation.

Article 31. Assignment of Rights to Design 1. Agreement on assignment of exclusive rights on design shall be concluded in writing. 2. Agreement on assignment of exclusive rights on design as well as amendments thereto shall be registered under established rule in the Register and the data are published in the Bulletin. 3. New holder of the design may not use the rights deriving from the registration against the third parties until entry of the relevant changes into the Register.

Article 32. Private License on Use of Design1. Design holder has a right to issue private license on use of design. 2. Private license is not a license envisaged by the Law of Georgia on Licenses and Permits. 3. Private license agreement should be executed in writing. Private License should define the scope of usage of the design. 4. Private license may be exclusive or non-exclusive. If the agreement on private license does not define the type of the license, it shall be deemed that the license is not exclusive. 5. Issuance of non-exclusive private license does not deprive the license issuer of the right to issue other license with analogous terms. 6. Issuance of exclusive private license deprives the license issuer of the right to issue other license with analogous terms. 7. Private license holder has a right to file an appeal in the court in relation to the violation of the right deriving from the design registration, if the registered holder of the design does not file the appeal within a reasonable time from the notification on violation of the rights. 8. Private license agreement as well as the amendments made thereto may be registered in the Register. 9. If a private license agreement envisages restrictions regarding development, dissemination and/or export of the design only in relation to a defined market, corresponding indication should be made in the labeling data of the product. If such indication does not exist, restriction envisaged by the private license agreement shall not have effect for third parties.

Article 33. Conflict of Interests1. Application on design registration may not be filed by: a) a natural person, who works or has worked in Sakpatenti 12 months prior to filing an application on the design; b) a legal person in which a person envisaged by sub-paragraphs "a” and "b” of this paragraph is a member, partner, stockholder or director.

2. In the course of review of a legal dispute over a design registration a person who has been actually involved in the adoption of the decision on the appealed design may not be included in the Appeal Board.

Chapter V

Transitional Provisions

Article 34. Application of the Norms of this Law to the Relations Ensued Earlier 1. This law applies to the relations related to development, registration, use and legal protection of those designs: a) which ensued after enactment of this Law; b) which are in force by the date of enactment of this Law; 2. Applications which by the enactment of this Law are being processed in Sakpatenti shall be reviewed under the Patent Law of Georgia of February 5, 1999. (Georgian Legislation Matsne, N 5(12) 1999, art.21).

Article 35. Measures Related to Enactment of this Law (26.10.2010. N3742) Sakpatenti shall issue the instruction on the registration of the design.

Chapter VI

Final Provisions

Article 36. Enactment of the Law This Law shall be enacted after 1 month from the date of its publication.